Fitting Experience Review- TrueSpec - Orlando

[Eric Elliott 27]

I wanted to write down my thoughts from my fitting experience with TrueSpec as soon as possible before i forget things.

 

I have been very happy to find this forum/site and wanted to share my experiences in the hopes of adding to the wealth of info here.

 

My friend bought a "2 for 1" special from TrueSpec on Black Friday - full bag fitting for $350 (i paid him half, so $175 for me).  I have been to multiple demo days in the past month, trying out different clubs from different manufacturers (Callaway, Titleist, TaylorMade) and those seemed to always only push one model of club (Callaway Mavrik Max, Titleist Tsi2/3, TaylorMade P790 Ti) so I was anxious to try a brand agnostic fitting to see how brands compared.  I am looking to purchase a new iron set, a new driver, and possibly a hybrid.

Setting up the appointment was fairly easy - they had many openings during the week, either at 9 am or 2pm, as they said that a full bag fitting should take about 3 hours (mine only took around 2).  I was disappointed in the call center approach, and spoke to people in "headquarters" when i called, and they had very little info about the location of the fitting, whether it was indoor or outdoor only, and other general info about the Orlando shop.  I tried to call back and get info when I thought the weather might be an issue, and was told that "it'll be fine and someone will call on the day of the fitting to check in with you", but that never happened.  As it turned out, the weather was not an issue, other than a bit breezy, and luckily the wind was at our backs.

I did not read the email closely, but i was supposed to park at the ChampionsGate pro shop, and get a shuttle to the facility (I completely missed that).  The TrueSpec location is part of the Leadbetter Golf Academy at ChampionsGate, and they have a building with multiple hitting bays, a fitness center and meeting rooms on the other side of the driving range from the pro shop.  Since i did not read the instructions, i used GPS for the address, and just kept driving around until i found the Leadbetter building.  There was no signage for TrueSpec other than a small logo on the fitting room.  I found out later that TrueSpec was new to the Academy, that they had another fitter who was there part time, and they were trying to partner up to provide a more custom experience.  I felt bad for not reading and being lost, but oh well...i made it.

Ryne met me and told me head out by the table on the range and warm up, while he was getting the TrackMan equipment and laptop set up.   The range was super nice, lots of buckets of balls.  No issues there.  

I wanted to compare my old irons and driver, and wanted to hit a few hybrids as well - not really as a comparison, just to try some out.

Ryne measured my 7-iron (an inch long, flat lie angle) and then tracked a few shots with the 7-iron and driver.  As i was hitting and warming up, he did the normal interview questions - what is your miss, what are you looking to gain, what have you tried.  I asked about grips, told him i was a push to the right slicer, that i wanted to feel more confident with my driver, wanted irons fit for me, or at least the specs.

After watching me hit both clubs, he went to the fitting room and came back with a handful of 7-iron heads and a handful of shafts and away we went.  We tried Callaway B21, Mavrik, Mavrik Max, TaylorMade (not sure of model, that one did not work well), Wilson D7, and Titleist (not sure of model again because i was not interested in Titleist much due to a previous demo where i was not impressed).  Callaway became the "leader in the clubhouse" pretty quick.  Thankfully i had read some previous reviews, so i knew to take my time, take breaks, bring some Gatorade and snacks.  Hitting a ton of 7-irons is hard work!!! if you do a fitting, be sure you are rested, and bring some snacks.  As we were getting close to a head decision, he started trying different shaft combinations.  I asked questions about lie angles and shafts and club lengths.  I am tall - 6 foot 4 - so i knew i would need longer shaft and most fitters at demo days had pegged me at 2-up on lie angle, and that is where Ryne was putting me too.  I swing slow and easy, so I am between a Senior Flex and a "soft" regular flex, so we kept trying different options.  I will receive the recommendations tomorrow and will post those with the data, but we ended up on the B21 head with a Senior Flex in graphite.  I kept getting breaks because he kept going back to get something else, which was much needed.  He wanted 5 decent shots with each combination, so it was a bit tough for a while.  If it had been a hot day, i would have had to take a lot of breaks.  Surprisingly, the Titleists were a good combination, but not quite as good as the B21s.

Then it was on to the drivers.  I had already tried the TaylorMade Sim Max D (the slice/push rears its head again) and he brought that out, along with the B21 driver, Mavrik Max, Titleist TS2, and maybe something else that i never got to (no loss there though).  I hit the Taylor Made first, and it felt as good as I remembered from the previous demo.  He said it was very close to probably maxing out, and I agreed, but then he said to try the B21.  I hit it perfect and so easily and he said something like "wow, you hit those on a string" and "great shots".  There was very little that could be gained from my slow swing speed and need for draw bias, so then it was on to getting the right shafts and getting the right loft.  We started with a 10 degree loft (maybe 10.5?) and after a few hits he said he would go get the 9 degree in the Sim Max D and the B21.  The 9 degree in the B21 was the winner, with the second or third shaft (once again, i will get those specs tomorrow via email - I hope!).  I did not ask too many pointed questions about the setups, i just hit what he handed me and tried to rest between shifts.

I kept asking about Ping, and he said "you cannot get it".  I did not ask why, and then brought it up again.  He said that the new driver was coming out soon, so I could not order the Ping through TrueSpec.  Before the fitting i had wanted to try the 410 SFT, but that was a non-starter for him, and i was hitting the B21 well, so i just shrugged that off.

We then moved to hybrids just to see.  He brought out a 4 in Mavrik or Mavrik Max, and a 4 in the B21.  Once again the B21 was the winner.  I hit both well, but the B21 helped me be more confident.  

We headed back to the room, closed out the day, and i was off.

 

I will share the specs and recommendations and numbers when i get them.  If you have questions or comments, i would love to hear them.  

I would recommend a TrueSpec fitting, and I would recommend going to a location that has outdoor hitting options.  I wish that I had more of an "anything that you want to try is fine" experience (see the Ping comments) but I feel like it was time well spent, and am anxious to see the numbers, specs and price quotes.  He said at the end "I know you are not buying here, and that is fine..." 

 

Look up Ryne Cole and TrueSpec if you are wanting to get fit in the Orlando area!

 

 

 

 

[Eric Elliott 27]

trackman info - it says 6 iron in the label, but i was hitting 7 irons - Driver is my old Killer Bee hand me down:

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2020 by ericelliott
added data

[Eric Elliott 27]

Prices/specs if i bought only Callaway options - stock/standard shafts from Callaway:

[Eric Elliott 27]

Prices with the upgraded TrueSpec shafts:

[03trdblack 1,057]

When he said you couldn't get the Ping, he was probably referring to the crazy backlog of orders that Ping is behind on with their current product line.  COVID shut them down and people are waiting months for product that is about to be replaced.

[RickyBobby_PR 9,567]

2 minutes ago, 03trdblack said:

When he said you couldn't get the Ping, he was probably referring to the crazy backlog of orders that Ping is behind on with their current product line.  COVID shut them down and people are waiting months for product that is about to be replaced.

Not to mention as he said the g425 is about to be released so ping has probably decided that no orders for them can be placed from a place a fitting/club service like this or club champion and more than likely most shops at this point and places that have g410s in stock that’s what’s available. So to fit or have someone hit something that’s no longer available is taking time and swings away from clubs that are

[Eric Elliott 27]

03trdblack - maybe.  I was still a little miffed that he would not at least let me hit it and try.  He knew I was not buying from them anyway

[dlow206 10,724]

Thanks for posting this, enjoyed reading the review.

[ChitownM2 729]

6 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Not to mention as he said the g425 is about to be released so ping has probably decided that no orders for them can be placed from a place a fitting/club service like this or club champion and more than likely most shops at this point and places that have g410s in stock that’s what’s available. So to fit or have someone hit something that’s no longer available is taking time and swings away from clubs that are

I'm not sure that is correct. I remember seeing something this May or June about the "last chance to custom order G400 clubs" so Ping definitely continues to offer previous products even after the new models are out. 

[RickyBobby_PR 9,567]

36 minutes ago, ChitownM2 said:

I'm not sure that is correct. I remember seeing something this May or June about the "last chance to custom order G400 clubs" so Ping definitely continues to offer previous products even after the new models are out. 

None of us know for sure why truspec couldn’t order but the likelyhood as the fitter mentioned it has something to do with the new driver but could also be due to supply chain issues and the extremely long backorder time that ping may not be looking at trying to fill orders for the g410 drivers. Unless someone calls ping to find out it’s speculation on all sides 

[ChitownM2 729]

7 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

None of us know for sure why truspec couldn’t order but the likelyhood as the fitter mentioned it has something to do with the new driver but could also be due to supply chain issues and the extremely long backorder time that ping may not be looking at trying to fill orders for the g410 drivers. Unless someone calls ping to find out it’s speculation on all sides 

Agreed that we will never know why, but my money would be on an issue with either this specific fitter or Truespec not wanting to deal with Ping for whatever reason. Be it the backlog or something else, but I highly doubt it has anything to do with Ping no longer selling G410 clubs since you can still custom order them from numerous other outlets so they must still be available. 

[RickyBobby_PR 9,567]

9 hours ago, ChitownM2 said:

Agreed that we will never know why, but my money would be on an issue with either this specific fitter or Truespec not wanting to deal with Ping for whatever reason. Be it the backlog or something else, but I highly doubt it has anything to do with Ping no longer selling G410 clubs since you can still custom order them from numerous other outlets so they must still be available. 

Was thinking about this more last night and remembered that Mike for TXG responded to a question on Instagram the other day to someone asking where to find a g410 driver and he alluded to there not being any even for them. So while they may still actually sell it. The chances of getting one aren’t real great and my guess is ping is telling their accounts they can’t order the head

[fixyurdivot 17,403]

19 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Not to mention as he said the g425 is about to be released so ping has probably decided that no orders for them can be placed from a place a fitting/club service like this or club champion and more than likely most shops at this point and places that have g410s in stock that’s what’s available. So to fit or have someone hit something that’s no longer available is taking time and swings away from clubs that are

Exactly... that is what my fitter at the Scottsdale TS said.